


Scandalized

by Vena



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Hickies, Humor, M/M, Scandalized Azami, Suggestive Themes, but nothing explicit, hints of azakyu, i don't know what to tag this with i'm sorry it's just something silly, might be a little ooc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:28:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29796057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vena/pseuds/Vena
Summary: Kumon thinks that Banri is bullying Juza, and Azami is dragged into helping him get to the bottom of it.
Relationships: Hyoudou Juuza/Settsu Banri
Comments: 11
Kudos: 69





	Scandalized

**Author's Note:**

> this is just a silly idea that popped into my head amongst the list of like 100 juban fics i want to write LOL i've not written for azami before and not really for kumon either so this was fun. don't take it too seriously and i hope you enjoy, thank you for reading! what are titles

Azami had been incredibly lucky that afternoon. He had decided to stop by one of the beauty shops he frequented on the way home from school, and there had been a sale on a brand of lipstick he’d been interested in and he’d picked up a couple of shades to test at home before deciding if buying more would be worth the investment. The sale lasted through the end of the week, so if they worked out he’d have plenty of time to get more. 

The dormitory was lively as usual as he stepped inside, Citron having rounded up a few of the others in the lounge to watch and participate in a quiz show that was airing on television. Azami said a quick hello when Kazunari waved at him from the center of the chaos but he speed walked through the lounge and didn’t breathe a sigh of relief until the raucous noise was behind him. If he’d been caught, who knew how long he’d have been forced to stay. He had other things to do right now. 

As he walked down the hall toward his room he glanced out toward the courtyard, mostly out of habit. It was deserted, except for a lone figure slumped over on the bench like the weight of the world was pushing down on his shoulders. Kumon. Azami clicked his tongue, glancing from the bag of lipstick in his hand to Kumon who looked like he was waiting for the earth to open up and swallow him whole. He sighed, tucking his hands into the pockets of his hoodie as he made his way over to check up on him. 

“Kumon,” he called, and the older boy only seemed to slump over further. 

“Hey, Azami. Did you just get back?” Kumon sounded pained; had something happened at school? 

“Yeah.” Azami wasn’t good at this kind of thing. He sat down next to Kumon on the bench, leaning back as he glanced at him. “You okay?”

“You wouldn’t believe the day I had,” Kumon gave a world-weary sigh, finally sitting up to lean back against the bench as well as he looked up at the sky. 

“Are some of those baseball guys givin’ you shit again? Do you need me to-”

“No, no!! Everything’s good with the team right now!” Kumon assured, gesturing wildly as he turned to look at Azami. “Besides, this is way worse than that!”

Worse than that? That didn’t sound good. 

“What’s wrong then?” Kumon must have been waiting for him to ask that because now there was a fire in his eyes just behind the despair. 

“It’s that no good shiny-haired jerk Banri!” Kumon yelled, loud enough that a bird a few feet away took flight as fast as it could. Azami winced at the volume, but nodded for him to continue. “I mean, he’s always been a jerk, but he’s even worse than I gave him credit for!” 

“What’s he doing that’s so bad?” Azami couldn’t think of anything bad Banri could do that he hadn’t done already. 

“He’s bullying my big brother!” Kumon wailed, Azami briefly covering the ear closest to him. 

“You always say that though.”

“Yeah, but he’s bullying him for  _ real  _ now!” Kumon did seem pretty pressed about it. Azami sighed and made himself more comfortable. “I saw it!” 

“Saw what?” Azami felt like he might regret asking this, but the sooner he helped Kumon out the sooner he could get to testing his lipstick. Maybe he could even convince Kumon to model it for him, if he calmed down enough. 

“A few nights ago I wanted to grab a snack before practicing my swings, and I had to stop and watch when I saw them out in the kitchen!” Kumon took a deep breath. “He had my brother pushed up against the counter all threatening-like, and he was holding his boxed cake hostage! I saw my brother reach for it but that stupid jerk Banri pulled it away and had this really dumb grin on his face! I think he was planning to throw it away or squish it in his face because my brother looked really mad and I just couldn’t let him do that so I jumped in to the rescue! Banri was so surprised he almost dropped the box when he stumbled back but I caught it in time! That’ll teach him!”

…

Azami wasn’t really sure how to respond to that. The situation did seem a little odd, sure, but this seemed fairly par the course for them. The boxing Juza against the counter part was the strangest part of the story. Then again, Banri did like to get up in Juza’s face whenever they argued, so maybe it wasn’t really that weird. 

“So he was stealing Juza’s food. That’s all?” It seemed like Kumon was being a little dramatic. 

“If that was it I wouldn’t be so worried!” Kumon sighed, slumping over again. “But I think that was just a sign, and they’re fighting for real!” 

“...Why?” 

“Last night, I heard a loud bang come from downstairs. I didn’t know what it was, and I heard another one right after!” 

“And that was...them?” If Azami remembered right, Juza and Banri’s room was right underneath Kumon’s. 

“I didn’t think about it at the time, but I went to see if my brother wanted to go for a run this morning before school.” Azami really wasn’t sure where this was going. “He said sure, and when he was changing I saw some bruises on the back of his legs!” 

“And...you think Banri did that?” 

“I know he did! I asked him about it and he just said that he tripped weird yesterday. But he did that thing where he wasn’t quite looking me in the eye, so I know he was lying!” 

“So you don’t even know for sure that Banri’s bullyin’ him. Maybe those loud bangs you heard were him tripping weird like he said?” Azami thought maybe Kumon was making a big deal out of nothing. 

“But when he said that, that one length jerk started laughing from his bed! And he had that one look on his face. That stupid smug one where he knows something you don’t and he's silently making fun of you for it!” Kumon cried, shooting up to his feet. Azami knew exactly which look he was talking about. Maybe that was a little weird after all.

“I dunno, I think things’re okay though. They’ve been acting normal at practice, and if something was really wrong wouldn’t Juza tell you?” 

“No! My big bro doesn’t like making me worry, so if something was going on he probably wouldn’t tell me unless I saw it happening myself!” That was something these two brothers had in common. 

“If you really want I can try and keep an eye on ‘em for you.” Azami was a little curious himself. It really wasn’t his business, but if it was something that could cause problems within Autumn Troupe, he should probably try to confirm it before bringing it up with the director. Or shitty old Sakyo if he was feeling particularly mean.

“You’d really do that for me?” Kumon sounded so relieved, and the earnest smile on his face made Azami a little embarrassed. Sometimes it was hard to look at him when he was looking at Azami like that. It was nice to see him looking a little more like his usual self, though. 

“If you let me try out some new makeup on you I might.” He’d do it anyway, but he could kill two birds with one stone like this. 

“S-Sure! Thanks again, Azami!” Kumon held a hand out to him and Azami stared at it for a long moment, heart skipping a beat as he took it and Kumon hefted him to his feet. He let go as quick as he could (it wouldn’t be counted as holding hands if it was less than five seconds) and led the way as Kumon followed obediently behind him.

The lipstick applied nice and even, didn’t smear very much, and the lighter shade he’d chosen really looked nice on Kumon. 

He’d have to buy a few more colors on the way home from school tomorrow. 

* * *

True to his word, Azami started keeping an eye on their troupe leader and his favorite verbal punching bag whenever he had the chance. Right away he could tell that something funny was going on, but he really wasn’t sure what it was.

During practice, it seemed like whenever one of them wasn’t rehearsing a scene or wasn't conversing with someone else, they were staring at each other. Azami couldn’t really say if that was more or less often than usual, since he hadn’t really paid that much attention beyond their usual bickering in the past, but it seemed like Banri especially was keeping a close eye on Juza whenever he could. 

When Juza was stretching prior to the start of rehearsal. 

When Juza was doing an etude with someone, it seemed like Banri was hardly focused on watching the other participants at all. 

After Banri’s own etude, his eyes would seek out Juza’s for a moment even before turning to review it with Izumi, and that look was charged with...some sort of energy. Azami couldn’t place it, but it was kind of intense. 

The last couple of days, even though it was really hot in the practice room, Juza would have his jacket zipped all the way up to the neck and refuse to take it off or roll up his sleeves even if he was sweating profusely after a particularly rough action sequence. Kumon’s words echoed through Azami’s mind; was he maybe trying to hide bruises? Juza would glare at Banri on those days and the other boy would grin at him as obnoxiously as possible as he passed over his water bottle. 

It was definitely weird. 

They seemed to be acting fine outside of that, though, and sure there was a sort of tension in the air that Azami couldn’t quite place some days, but it didn’t really interfere with rehearsal. If anything, it seemed like those two were really giving it their all lately. More so than usual, even.

Kumon would pester him for updates on a near daily basis, and Azami would give his reports. Neither of them could quite piece together what was going on between Juza and Banri, but there was definitely  _ something.  _ Azami still wasn’t fully convinced it was bullying, like Kumon was, especially since there didn’t seem to be too many changes that Azami could see. Just general odd behavior.

At least, until he found Kumon slumped over out on the bench in the courtyard again after his bath one night looking even more miserable than the last time Azami had seen him moping out there. 

“Everything okay?” he asked, and he’d barely sat down before Kumon was grabbing his shoulders and clinging to him desperately.

“I don’t know what to do, Azami!!” Kumon yelled, and Azami jumped as a rabbit he hadn’t even seen dashed out from the garden and away from the source of the noise as fast as its little legs could take it. 

“First you should calm down,” Azami chided, grabbing Kumon’s shoulders to try and steady him. Kumon nodded quickly, sucking in a deep breath and slowly blowing it out of his nose. He repeated the process a couple of times and Azami gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze on his last exhale. “What happened?”

“I know that that straight-haired jerk is beating up my brother now!” Kumon cried, biting his lip as Azami frowned. 

“Isn’t that what you said last time though?” Azami asked, wondering what must have changed for Kumon to react like this.

“Yeah, but this time I know it for sure!!” Kumon took another deep breath as his hold on Azami tightened for a moment. “My brother had been kind of avoiding me when I asked him to take a bath with me for the last couple of days and I was getting worried, because he usually doesn’t have a problem with it.” 

“Mm.”

“So I was kinda staking out the bathroom tonight waiting for him to go in, and I followed him after a few minutes.” Azami thought that was a little weird of Kumon too, but he kept that thought to himself. “And when I went in there..! Oh, it was awful, Azami!!”

Kumon dramatically slumped forward, head resting on Azami’s shoulder near the crook of his neck. Azami jumped at the sudden action and swallowed hard as he resisted the immediate urge to shove Kumon off of him. This was so embarrassing. 

“He was covered in bruises!” Kumon choked out against him, and that made Azami stiffen. Bruises? So his theory about Juza’s jacket had been right after all. “There were so many! And his back..! There were scratches all over! It looked like it really hurt!” 

“What’d he say when you asked about them?” Azami could feel Kumon shake his head against his shoulder and he again resisted the urge to push him away. It was getting harder to do though, because the longer he stayed here the more Azami’s heart began to race. He was way too close.

“He wouldn’t even look at me!” Kumon's voice cracked. “All he would say was that it was nothing to worry about, but of  _ course  _ I’m gonna worry about it! He looked like he was mauled! And I know exactly who did it!!” 

“Guess that’s why Banri kept lookin’ like he was gloating at practice the last couple of days,” Azami muttered, mostly to himself, but with Kumon so close he must have heart it because he shot straight up and finally let go of Azami with a furious look on his face. 

“He  _ what!?  _ That’s it! I’m gonna go give that slick haired snake a piece of my mind, and maybe even a piece of my fist! He’s gone too far this time!” Kumon was leaping to his feet now and Azami quickly followed suit and caught his wrist and pulled him back before he could march off. 

“Hold up, I don’t think you should do that,” Azami said, trying to ignore the way his hand burned as he touched Kumon. Why was this so embarrassing? “You’d probably get hurt yourself challenging Banri to a fight.”

“But I can’t let him keep doing whatever the heck he wants to my brother!” Kumon stared right into his eyes and Azami could only hold his gaze for a few moments before he had to look down at the ground. 

"I don't think Juza'd want you to get injured tryin' to protect his honor or whatever." That must have helped take some of the fight out of Kumon because he'd stopped trying to tug his wrist out of Azami's grasp. Tentatively Azami loosened his hold and Kumon's wrist fell limply to his side. Thankfully, he didn't run off. He just sniffled pathetically and Azami felt a little helpless.

"What should I do, then? It's bad already, but what if it gets even worse?" Azami's chest ached whenever Kumon's voice got quiet like this. He didn't really get it, but it sucked to see his friend so down.

"Let me say something to him. I doubt he'd fight me, and I won't fight unless he throws the first punch." 

"Can you talk to him tomorrow then?"

"I probably won't see him until evening practice tomorrow, but I'll talk to him." They'd see each other at dinner, but Azami didn't want to make things awkward right before rehearsal. Juza would probably be fine until then.

Kumon let out a loud, world-weary sigh. "I guess I'll leave it to you then. Thanks again for all your help with this whole thing."

Azami stuffed his hands into his pockets, looking away from Kumon as the embarrassment began to settle in again. "I mean, it wouldn't be good if this started affecting Autumn Troupe, right?” 

“Right.” Azami wasn’t looking but he could still hear the smile in Kumon’s voice and he quickly turned around to hide his rapidly heating face.

“T-Tomorrow then.”

* * *

A loud, rapid series of knocks at the door made Azami drop his applicator in surprise, and he turned to glare at it. That shitty old man wasn’t home yet so Azami had wanted to take the chance to test a new foundation for his next #cosmetics review, but he supposed there was never a dull moment at Mankai. The doorknob rattled and there were a few more knocks and Azami sighed. “I’m busy! Come back later,” he called, picking up his applicator and setting it on the table.

“A-Azami!” That was Kumon. And he sounded like he was...crying? Azami quickly got to his feet and unlocked the door, stepping back as Kumon swung the door open and slammed it shut behind him. “Azamiiiiii!” Kumon dove face first into Azami’s chest, sobs muffled against him. Azami floundered, arms hovering helplessly by his sides. 

“K-Kumon?” Azami asked, very torn between wanting to shove Kumon off of him and wanting to pull him closer. 

“This is the worst thing that’s ever happened!” Kumon wailed, sniffling, “That jerk’s really done it now!!”

So this was about Banri and Juza again. Azami should have figured.

“What now?”

Kumon pressed against him even harder as another shaky sob was muffled. 

“I-I just saw that awful guy kissing my brother! Right on the lips!!” Kumon sounded devastated. As if he’d seen Banri kill Juza instead of kiss him. 

Wait.

Kiss?

K-K-K-K-Kiss!?

Azami shouted, shoving Kumon back. 

“Y-You’re sure? You saw them k-k-kissing!?” Azami cried, body heating up in an instant. Kumon nodded rapidly, wiping the tears from his eyes.

“I didn’t think Banri would stoop so low to use him like that!! I was gonna give him a piece of my mind but...I ran away instead…..” Azami couldn’t blame him. If he’d seen  _ t-that _ , he probably would have punched them. 

“K-Kiss…” Did that mean they were in a relationship? Were Juza and Banri dating? That couldn’t be right. Azami had never seen them hold hands, or anything else very couple-like. And you could only hold hands if you were engaged. Did they skip steps right to kissing? Or...did the fact that they were kissing bring them to the next level? Was this why they kept staring at each other all the time? But that still didn’t explain the bruises. Why would you be hitting your boyfriend? Your fiance? But kissing...the old geezer had said you could only kiss after..! That must have meant--

“Oh my  _ God! _ ” Azami cried, growing warmer and warmer by the second at his realization. He quickly hid his face in his hands, not minding the foundation smearing from his cheek onto his palm. 

“What!? What is it, Azami!?” Kumon shouted, grabbing him by the shoulders. “Did you realize something!?”

“You saw them kissing, right!?” 

“Unfortunately!”

“T-Then that means..!” 

“What does it mean!?” 

“They…!” Azami shook his head, still in shock. “I think Banri and Juza eloped!” 

“THEY  _ WHAT!? _ ” The foundations of the dormitory rumbled with the sheer force of Kumon’s shout. 

“That’s the only explanation!!” Banri might have been the kind of guy who would skip relationship steps and hold hands out of wedlock, but Juza was another story. If they were kissing, that meant they must have had their first kiss already on their wedding night. 

“B-But they don’t have rings!” Kumon wailed, shaking Azami by his shoulders. Azami still refused to come out from behind his hands. “There has to be some mistake!”

“They wouldn’t be wearing their rings if they eloped, Kumon! They’ve been trying to keep it a secret!” Azami shouted back. “I’m just as shocked as you are!”

Kumon was crying again. “This can’t be true, Azami! That weird hair  _ can’t  _ be a Hyodo now!! I refuse!” 

“They wouldn’t be kissing otherwise!” Shitty old Sakyo had made sure he knew that. Suddenly, there was a hand on his wrist, tugging one of his hands down and away from his face as it started pulling him toward the door. “W-Where are we going!?”

“I’ve gotta go ask them right now!! I can’t believe this! My brother would have told me if they got married!” Kumon cried, dragging Azami out into the courtyard with him. 

“Where did you even see them kissing?” Azami asked, face flushing another shade deeper. “T-They won’t still be at it, will they!?” 

“There’s only one way to find out!” Kumon shouted, pulling Azami to the small path that led from the courtyard to the exterior of the building.

“How did you find them back here?” Azami whispered.

“I saw them coming out here so I followed them,” Kumon whispered back. Of course he did. These brothers sure didn’t take any half measures.

Azami had one eye still covered and the other scanning the area for his two troupemates. Kumon kept dragging him further and around the corner of the building, and there they were; Banri pressing Juza into the side of the building, pinning his arms to the wall and they were--

Azami screamed and Banri flew backward as Juza tried to jump back as well, hitting his head on the wall and wincing. 

“The hell’re you two doin’ here!?” Banri cried, face flushed but he didn’t even have the decency to look embarrassed. Juza, on the other hand, looked like he’d just been hit by a freight train and Azami had never seen his face so red as he refused to look at either one of them. He could relate.

“I should be asking  _ you  _ that, you..! You..! You slimy-haired bastard!” Kumon cried.

“Language,” Juza muttered, still refusing to look up from his sandals. As Azami got another look at him, his jacket was unzipped and there definitely was a dark bruise on his neck. That seemed like such a weird place for a punch without seriously injuring Juza. Wait, he was getting side tracked.

“Did you guys get married or what!?” Azami demanded, and that finally made Juza look up. He and Banri were panicking, looking at each other before looking back at Azami.

“Married?  _ What? _ No!” Banri gagged. “Who’d ever get married to this daikon!?”

Juza quickly whipped his eyes back to Banri and gave a glare more serious than Azami could recall seeing off stage. “You sayin’ this is just some kinda fling, Settsu?” Kumon gasped and things were progressing far too quickly for Azami’s brain to process.

“That’s not what I meant!” Banri whined, hands up in surrender as the three of them stared him down. “It’s way too early to be thinkin’ of shit like that! We just started dating a month ago, jeez!” 

“You’re  _ dating _ !?” Kumon wailed. He turned back to Juza, who was still having trouble meeting his brother’s gaze. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“‘Cause we knew you’d react just like this,” Banri rolled his eyes. “Looks like I was right!”

“Sorry, Kumon,” Juza muttered. He looked like he was waiting for a meteor to fall out of the sky and strike him down. Azami could definitely relate. 

“B-But what about the bruises?” Kumon asked, obviously torn on whether he should be hurt, be mad, or just be plain old confused. “If you’re dating why’d you beat up my brother!?” Juza quickly looked off to the side again as if looking for an escape from this conversation as Banri started laughing. 

“Is that what this is about?” Banri wheezed, throwing his arm around Juza’s shoulder and pulling him close. “‘S not just fists that can make marks like that, kids.” Azami and Kumon looked at each other in confusion. “Those were hic--mmph!”

Juza sprang into action, slapping both hands over Banri’s mouth before he could say anything further. “Shut up, Settsu! Don’t say shit like that in front of Kumon!” Banri struggled against his grasp as his muffled shouting leaked out, but Azami couldn’t make out what he was trying to say. “He’s not beatin’ me up, okay? It’s, uh, complicated. But ‘m fine. Promise. As if I’d ever lose to Settsu.” Kumon looked relieved at that. Banri did not. Juza grimaced as Banri licked his hand, and quickly released him to wipe his hands off on his pants. “Gross.”

Banri looked like he wanted to say something (probably inappropriate, if Azami had to guess from his expression, but for the sake of all parties involved seemed to think better on what he was about to say), but simply rolled his eyes instead. “Not like I’ve lost to  _ you  _ either.”

It was right about then that Azami’s brain finally caught up with the conversation. Things had calmed down a bit, but that was quickly thrown out the window when a shocking realization struck Azami.

“W-Wait a second, are you saying you two’ve been kissing  _ without _ being married!?” Azami cried, and all three of them turned to look at him.

“Uh, yeah?” Banri was just as confused as everyone else. Azami stepped back, shaking his head as he clenched his hands into fists.

“Y-You’re doing this all wrong!” Azami had never been more scandalized in his life. He barely knew where to look. He couldn’t believe even Juza had been so reckless. “You idiots! Don’t you know you’re not supposed to kiss before you’re married!? Do you have any idea how many steps you’ve skipped!?” 

“Steps?” Juza asked, clearly not understanding. 

“Duh! There’s a proper order to these things! You probably haven’t even asked each others’ parents before you started dating, have you?” They shook their heads. Azami was speechless. Were they idiots? “Y-You’re both way out of line! You have to ask for their permission first! And then, once you have permission to date, you have to wait even longer before you get engaged. And  _ then  _ you can hold hands with each other, and blah blah blah…”

The longer Azami went on the quieter the other three became. Banri wanted to die; it felt like he was getting a G-rated version of the Talk from Sakyo. Juza wanted to disappear; he’d never wanted Kumon to find out about his relationship status like this. Kumon was afraid; if he ever wanted to ask Azami out one day he was going to have to ask Sakyo for permission. Or would he have to ask Azami’s regular dad? He didn’t know which would be scarier. 

“...And  _ then  _ you can kiss!” Azami took a deep breath before shooting the three of them a glare. “Got it!?” The three of them nodded, all looking equally miserable. “Good! And  _ don’t  _ let me catch you doing this again unless you’ve got a ring!” He spun around on his heel. “If you’ll excuse me, I was in the middle of something before you shameless perverts interrupted me.”

“ _ You’re  _ the one who interrupted  _ us! _ ” Banri shouted after him, and Azami heard a muffled scuffle likely between him and Juza as he moved even faster until he was back in the courtyard. He could hear the crunching of grass behind him, which likely meant Kumon was tagging along after him.

“I can’t believe them,” Azami huffed.

“Y-Yeah. This is gonna take some getting used to,” Kumon sighed. No kidding. "I can't believe by brother is dating _that_ guy!"

“At least you don’t have to practice with them.”

“You  _ did  _ say they kept staring at each other…” Kumon whined. “Gross.”

“Tell me about it.” Azami was going to wash off whatever foundation he hadn’t ruined yet and maybe take a nap before dinner. He was playing it cool, but that had been  _ far  _ too much for him at once. He needed to rest before he had to face them at the dinner table. And evening practice. Ugh. 

This was going to suck.


End file.
